The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has a template for describing the different populations of the world. Nearly all institutions in the UK, public sector and private, including Government (central and local), judiciary, police, health service, schools, universities and media, rely on it. It has been used for the Census.

The ONS describes all ethnic groups in the UK by heritage, with two exceptions:-

Europeans and people of European descent are described as "white".

Africans and people of direct African descent are described as "black".

These two population groups are described in 'colour' terms and as polar opposites.

This false dichotomy is an anachronism, based on a negative history underpinned by a specific form of racism. Persisting with this terminology inadvertently or otherwise perpetuates racism and animosity between these two populations, based on this.

The terminology is also crude, base and inaccurate, and incompatible with modern thinking and enlightened attitudes towards human beings.

Thirdly, it is inconsistent to select one methodology - 'colour' - to describe two populations while another completely different set of rules - heritage - is applied for describing the rest.

The bLack of Respect campaign's purpose is to highlight and bring an end to this inconsistency. The name of the campaign was chosen in order to highlight the lack of respect inherent in this old 'colour' terminology.

Heritage terminology has evolved to describe all other human population groups respectably, including those of mixed ancestry. In the 21st century and onwards, this should now apply to all groups and is in keeping with human dignity and the ideals espoused by the UN Convention on Human Rights.

We believe there should be no exceptions.

Please show your support by signing this petition, which we will present to the ONS.